how to keep eggs from freezing in nesting box!?

[SixChickFlock]

Hey Yooper,

Cook and feed the ruined ones back to your hens, or dogs... Maybe cats. You will be getting useable eggs as soon as it's warmer.

-Check very frequently one or two days to figure out who is laying when and where. You might get a good idea when to look for eggs in different spots.
-Maybe set the errant layers in a nest, to show them where the nests are. Have an egg or simulated egg in there.
-Make the wrong places unsuitable by blocking them off?

MUCH easier to do all this when it's warmer out.

Good luck!

 

[pdirt]

Ok guys, I'm in the u.p. of michigan. 10 below this morning. I am checking as soon as I can in the morning ect.. and there wouldn't be a problem except my hens aren't laying in the boxes.well some are and those eggs are good, but the ones layer on the floor are split and ruined. Any tips. Waited since June for eggs and hate to throw these away

You probably just need to get up earlier, lol! If your birds are laying at 4:30am, you need to be out there just before then. Find where they are nesting and pick them up and put them in a nest box. This has worked well for us...once or twice of this and they seem to figure it out.

Are you using supplemental light for laying? If so, what is your lighting schedule?

Also, if you have bantams, make sure your nest boxes aren't too high for them to jump up in to.

 

[Orpington Crazy]

We use the rice bags in the nest boxes when we get cold weather between -8 and -28 F it helps keep the eggs from freezing in between the many checks. We also sometimes block off one or two nest boxes which can help or it can cause them to lay on the floor.

Good luck
Alyssa

 

[blucoondawg]

I built a roll out nest box but in cold weather I fill the boxes with straw which will allow the hens to have a warmer nest and catches the eggs and make the hens set on them

 

[yooper coop]

Well I can't get them earlier being on midnight shift. But I like that idea of cooking them and feeding them back to the hens. A little creepy though lol.

 

[cluckey]

The only thing I worry about with the rice bags is them keeping the nesting box too warm and keeping the eggs to warm. It seems like a hard thing to control the temperature with. We arent using any kind of light in our coop and the sun definitely is not up when i check on them in the morning before I go to work however, one little lady was up and there was a very thin shelled egg(small) on the floor already. I didnt think chickens would lay eggs when the sun is down.

 

[blucoondawg]

I have some, actually the majority who still like to lay on the floor because I have been rather lazy about finishing off my nest boxes, lol. Mine don't really lay all over the place though, they find a place resembling a nest and lay there, usually in a small confined space like next to the totes we store the feed in or behind a shovel I keep in the coop, so essentially it is still a cache of eggs that they have to sit on to lay and they keep them warmer, maybe if they won't use the boxes make them a box like area on the floor where they will like to lay then take it away after awhile that may get them to liking the boxes

 

[RonP]

My heated nesting boxes are working very well.

We haven't experienced severe cold yet, but the boxes are 20F or so above ambient.

 

[yooper coop]

It's -8 now,-20 tonight.errrr....

 

[SixChickFlock]

Well I can't get them earlier being on midnight shift. But I like that idea of cooking them and feeding them back to the hens. A little creepy though lol.

They ar little omnivor dinosaurs. They produce an excellent protein product which is as good for them as it is for us. Have no creepy fears!